Sermon 15. Rising with Christ

"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. iii. 1-3.

[Note] {208} IN the Communion Service
we are exhorted to "lift up our hearts;" we answer, "We
lift them up unto the Lord,"—unto the Lord, that is, who is
ascended on high; to Him who is not here, but has risen, appeared to
His Apostles, and retired out of sight. To that ascended and unseen
Saviour, who has overcome death, and opened the kingdom of heaven to
all believers, this day and all days, but especially at this season,
when we commemorate His Resurrection and Ascension, are we bound to
rise in spirit after His pattern. Far otherwise, alas! is it with the
many: they are hindered, nay, possessed and absorbed by this world,
and they cannot rise because they have no wings. Prayer and fasting
have been called the wings of the soul, and they who neither fast nor
pray, cannot follow Christ. They cannot lift up their hearts to Him.
They have no treasure above, {209} but their treasure, and their heart, and
their faculties are all upon the earth; the earth is their portion,
and not heaven.

Great, then, is the contrast between the many, and those holy and
blessed souls (and may we be in their company!) who rise with Christ,
and set their affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
The one are in light and peace, the others form the crowd who are
thronging and hurrying along the broad way "which leadeth to
destruction;" who are in tumult, warfare, anxiety, and
bitterness, or, at least, in coldness and barrenness of mind; or, at
best, in but a short-lived merriment, hollow and restless; or
altogether blind to the future. This is the case of the many; they
walk without aim or object, they live irreligiously, or in
lukewarmness, yet have nothing to say in their defence. They follow
whatever strikes them and pleases them; they indulge their natural
tastes. They do not think of forming their tastes and principles, and
of rising higher than they are, but they sink and debase themselves to
their most earthly feelings and most sensual inclinations, because
these happen to be the most powerful. On the contrary, holy souls take
a separate course; they have risen with Christ, and they are like
persons who have climbed a mountain and are reposing at the top. All
is noise and tumult, mist and darkness at its foot; but on the
mountain's top it is so very still, so very calm and serene, so pure,
so clear, so bright, so heavenly, that to their sensations it is as if
the din of earth did not sound below, and shadows and gloom were no
where to be found. {210}

And, indeed, the mountain's top is a frequent image in Scripture,
under which the Almighty Spirit speaks to us of our calling in Christ.
Thus, for instance, it was prophesied of the Christian Church,
"that the mountain of the Lord's House should be established in
the top of the mountains ... and many people should go and say, Come
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord." And, in like
manner, the Temple built by Solomon was upon a high place; doubtless,
among other reasons, which at first sight seem of an opposite nature,
by way of showing us that religion consists in retiring from the
world, and rising towards heaven. "He chose the tribe of
Judah," says the Psalmist "even the hill of Sion which He
loved. And there He built His Temple on high." [Isa. ii. 2, 3.
Ps. lxxviii. 69, 70.] I do not mean, of course, that a man can be
religious who neglects his duties of this world; but that there is an
inner and truer life in religious men, beyond the life and
conversation which others see, or, in the words of the text, their
"life is hid with Christ in God." Christ, indeed, Himself
worketh hitherto, as His Father worketh, and He bids us also
"work while it is day;" yet, for all this, it is true that
the Father and the Son are invisible, that They have an ineffable
union with each other, and are not in any dependence upon the mortal
concerns of this world; and so we, in our finite measure, must live
after Their Divine pattern, holding communion with Them, as if we were
at the top of the Mount, while we perform our duties towards {211} that
sinful and irreligious world which lies at the foot of it.

The history of Moses affords us another instance of this lifting up
of the heart to God, and that, too, represented to us under the same
image. He went up to the Mount for forty days, and there he saw
visions. And observe, he remained all this time without eating bread
or drinking water. That miraculous fast was a lesson to us, how it is
that we Christians are to draw near to God. But observe, again, while
he was on the Mount, what was going on in the plain. There was
the turbulence, the ungodliness, the sin of the world. His servant
Joshua said, as they heard the noise of the shouting, "There is a
noise of war in the camp:" but Moses said, "It is not the
voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them
that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I
hear." [Exod. xxxii. 17, 18.]

Our Saviour's own history gives us another striking instance of
this Divine communion, and the troublesome world in contrast. When He
ascended the Mount of Transfiguration with His three Apostles, on the
summit all was still and calm as heaven. He appeared in glory; Moses
and Elias with Him; the Father's voice was heard: St. Peter said,
"Master, it is good for us to be here." Then he and his
brother Apostles felt that their life was hid with Christ in God. But
when they came down the mountain, how the scene was changed! It was
descending from heaven to the world. "When {212} He came to His
disciples," says the Evangelist, "He saw a great multitude
about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all
the people, when they beheld Him, were greatly amazed, and running to
Him, saluted Him." And He found that the Apostles were trying to
cast out a devil, and could not. And then He spoke the word,
conformable with Moses' deed, "This kind can come forth by
nothing, but by prayer and fasting." [Mark ix. 5, 14, 15, 29.]

And again; we may even say that, when our Lord was lifted up on the
Cross, then, too, He presented to us the same example of a soul raised
heavenwards and hid in God, with the tumultuous world at its feet. The
unbelieving multitude swarmed about the Cross, they that passed by
reviled Him, and the scribes mocked Him. Meanwhile, He Himself was,
amid His agony, in Divine contemplations. He said. "Father,
forgive them;" "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" "It is
finished;" "Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." And as
He was hid in God, so too, even at that awful moment, one was at His
side gazing on Him, and hid in God with Him. The penitent thief said,
"Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom; and Jesus
said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in
paradise." [Luke xxiii. 42, 43.]

And much more on His resurrection was He withdrawn from this
troublesome world, and at peace, as the Psalmist foretold it. "I
have set My King upon {213} My holy hill of Sion." "Ever
since the world began hath Thy seat been prepared; Thou art from
everlasting. The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods have lift up
their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The waves of the sea are
mighty and rage horribly; but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is
mightier." [Ps. ii. 6; xciii. 3-5.]

These passages may be taken as types, if not as instances, of the
doctrine and precept which the text contains. Christ is risen on high,
we must rise with Him. He is gone away out of sight, and we must
follow Him. He is gone to the Father, we, too, must take care that our
new life is hid with Christ in God. This was the gracious promise,
which is signified in the prayer He offered before His passion for all
His disciples, even to the end of the world. "Holy Father,"
He said, "keep through Thine own Name, those whom Thou hast given
Me, that they may be one, as We are ... I pray not that Thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world ...
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on Me through their word; that they all may be one, as Thou, Father,
art in Me, and I in Thee; that they may be one in Us ... I in them,
and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one … that the love
wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them, and I in them."
[John xvii. 11, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26.] Agreeably to this sacred and
awful announcement, St. Paul speaks in {214} the text and following verses;
"If ye, then, be risen with Christ," he says, "seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand
of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth."

It is then the duty and the privilege of all disciples of our
glorified Saviour, to be exalted and transfigured with Him; to live in
heaven in their thoughts, motives, aims, desires, likings, prayers,
praises, intercessions, even while they are in the flesh; to look like
other men, to be busy like other men, to be passed over in the crowd
of men, or even to be scorned or oppressed, as other men may be, but
the while to have a secret channel of communication with the Most
High, a gift the world knows not of; to have their life hid
with Christ in God. Men of this world live in this world, and depend
upon it; they place their happiness in this world; they look out for
its honours or comforts. Their life is not hid. And every one
they meet they suppose to he like-minded. They think they can be as
sure that every other man looks out for the things which they covet,
as they can be sure he has the same outward appearance, the same make,
a soul and body, eyes and tongue, hands and feet. They look up and
down the world, and, as far as they see, one man is just like another.
They know that a great many, nay, far the greater part, are like
themselves, lovers of this world, and they infer, in consequence, that
all are such. They discredit the possibility of any other motives and
{215} views being paramount in a man but those of this world. They admit,
indeed, that a man may be influenced by religious motives, but
to be governed by them, to live by them, to own them as
turning points, and primary and ultimate laws of his conduct, this is
what they do not credit. They have devised proverbs and sayings to the
effect that every man has his price; that all of us have our weak
side; that religion is a beautiful theory; and that the most religious
man is only he who hides most skilfully from himself, as well as from
others, his own love of the world; and that men would not be men if
they did not love and desire wealth and honour. And, in accordance
with these views, they imputed all base and evil things to our Lord
Himself, rather than believe Him to be what He said He was. They said
He was a deceiver; that He wished to make Himself a king; that His
miracles were wrought through Beelzebub. But He all the while, the Son
of Man, was but in outward act sojourning here, and was in spirit in
heaven. Follow Him into the wilderness during His forty days' fast,
when He did neither eat nor drink; or after the devil's temptation,
when Angels came and ministered unto Him; or go with Him up that
mountain to pray, where, as I have already said, He was transfigured,
and talked with Moses and Elias; and you will see where He really was,
and with whom, while He sojourned upon earth,—with Saints and
Angels, with His Father, who announced Him as His beloved Son, and
with the Holy Ghost, who descended upon Him. He was "the Son of
Man which is in heaven," and "had meat to eat" which
others "knew not of." {216}

And such in our measure shall we be, both in the appearance and in
the reality, if we be His. "Truly our fellowship is with the
Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ;" but, as far as this world
goes, we shall be of little account. "The world knoweth us not,
because it knew Him not." [1 John i. 3; iii. 1.] Or, more than
this, we may be perhaps ridiculed for our religion, despised, or
punished; "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more them of His household?" [Matt. x. 25.] Such is the
condition of those who rise with Christ. He rose in the night, when no
one saw Him; and we, too, rise we know not when nor how. Nor does any
one know any thing of our religions history, of our turnings to God,
of our growings in grace, of our successes, but God Himself who
secretly is the cause of them.

In this way let us enjoy and profit by this holy season; Christ
hath "died, yea, rather hath risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
Wonderful things had taken place, while the world seemed to go on as
usual. Pontius Pilate thought himself like other governors. The Jewish
rulers went on with the aims and the prejudices which had heretofore
governed them. Herod went on in his career of sin, and having seen and
put to death one prophet, hoped to see miracles from a second. They
all viewed all things as of this world; they said, "tomorrow
shall be as today, and much more abundant." They heard the news
and saw the sights and provided {217} for the needs of the moment, and
forgot the thought of God. Thus men went on at the foot of the mount,
and they cared not for what was on the summit. They did not understand
that another and marvellous system, contrary to this world, was
proceeding forward under the veil of this world. So it was then: so it
is now. The world witnesses not the secret communion of the Saints of
God, their prayers, praises, and intercessions. But they have
the present privileges of saints, notwithstanding,—a knowledge, and
a joy, and a strength, which they cannot compass or describe, and
would not if they could. "O how plentiful is Thy goodness, which
Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; and that Thou hast prepared
for them that put their trust in Thee, even before the sons of
men." Are they in anxiety? "Thou shalt hide them privily by
Thine own presence from the provoking of all men; Thou shalt keep them
secretly in Thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues." Are they
in disappointment? "Thou hast put gladness in their heart, since
the time that their enemies corn, and wine, and oil increased."
Are they despised by the prosperous? "They have children
at their desire," says another Psalm, "and leave the rest of
their substance for their babes; but as for me, I will behold Thy
presence in righteousness, and when I awake up after Thy likeness, I
shall be satisfied with it." Are they in despondency? The
Psalmist has provided them with a consolation: "Nevertheless, I
am alway by Thee, for Thou hast holden me by my right hand; Thou shalt
guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory. Whom
have I in heaven but Thee? And {218} there is none upon earth that I desire
in comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." Are they in
peril? "Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High, shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty ... a thousand shall fall
beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come
nigh thee." Thus there is fulness without measure for every need,
to be found in Him with whom our life is lodged; there is what will
"satisfy us with the plenteousness of His house, who gives us to
drink of His pleasures, as out of the river. For with Him is the well
of life, and in His light shall we see light." So that they may
fittingly cry out, "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and all that is
within me praise His holy name … who forgiveth all thy sin, and
healeth all thine infirmities; who saveth thy life from destruction,
and crowneth thee with mercy and lovingkindness; who satisfieth thy
mouth with good things, making thee young and lusty as an eagle."
[Ps. xxxi. 21, 22; iv. 8; xvii. 15, 16; lxxiii. 22-25; xci. 1-7; xxxvi.
8-9; ciii. 1, 3-5.]

All this, my brethren, I say is our portion, if we choose but to
accept it. "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who
shall rise up in His holy place? Who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or
who shall rest upon Thy holy hill? Even he that leadeth an uncorrupt
life, and doeth the thing that is right, and speaketh the truth from
his heart. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of
them {219} that seek Him, even of them that seek thy face, O Jacob."
Aspire, then, to be "fellow-citizens of the Saints and of the
household of God." Follow their steps as they have followed
Christ. Though the hill be steep, yet faint not, for the reward is
great; and till you have made the trial, you can form no idea how
great that reward is, or how high its nature. The invitation runs,
"O taste, and see how gracious the Lord is." If you have
hitherto thought too little of these things, if you have thought
religion lies merely in what it certainly does consist in also,
in filling your worldly station well, in being amiable, and
well-behaved, and considerate, and orderly,—but if you have thought
it was nothing more than this, if you have neglected to stir up the
great gift of God which is lodged deep within you, the gift of
election and regeneration, if you have been scanty in your devotions,
in intercession, prayer, and praise, and if, in consequence, you have
little or nothing of the sweetness, the winning grace, the innocence,
the freshness, the tenderness, the cheerfulness, the composure of the
elect of God, if you are at present really deficient in praying, and
other divine exercises, make a new beginning henceforth. Start, now,
with this holy season, and rise with Christ. See, He offers you His
hand; He is rising; rise with Him. Mount up from the grave of the old
Adam; from grovelling cares, and jealousies, and fretfulness, and
worldly aims; from the thraldom of habit, from the tumult of passion,
from the fascinations of the flesh, from a cold, worldly, calculating
spirit, from frivolity, from selfishness, from effeminacy, {220} from
self-conceit and highmindedness. Henceforth set about doing what it is
so difficult to do, but what should not, must not be left undone;
watch, and pray, and meditate, that is, according to the leisure which
God has given you. Give freely of your time to your Lord and Saviour,
if you have it. If you have little, show your sense of the privilege
by giving that little. But any how, show that your heart and your
desires, show that your life is with your God. Set aside every day
times for seeking Him. Humble yourself that you have been hitherto so
languid and uncertain. Live more strictly to Him; take His yoke upon
your shoulder; live by rule. I am not calling on you to go out of the
world, or to abandon your duties in the world, but to redeem the time;
not to give hours to mere amusement or society, while you give minutes
to Christ; not to pray to Him only when you are tired, and fit for
nothing but sleep; not altogether to omit to praise Him, or to
intercede for the world and the Church; but in good measure to realize
honestly the words of the text, to "set your affection on things
above;" and to prove that you are His, in that your heart is
risen with Him, and your life hid in Him.